Faster, fuller, smarter: How Vidarbha’s left-arm spinners outbowled Madhya Pradesh
Bowling in tandem, Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey and Path Rekhade ran through all the tricks of the left-arm spin trade with ruthless efficiency to Madhya Pradesh’s batters looking clueless. The pair has been the backbone of a strong start to the Ranji season for the side.
At 10:45 AM on Wednesday morning, not many spectators gathered at the VCA Jamtha Stadium would have expected to have the afternoon to themselves.
Aiming to overhaul a deficit of 125, Madhya Pradesh’s Atharva Mahajan and Shubham Sharma were chugging along solidly after being asked to follow on. As Parth Rekhade walked to the top of his mark for his first ball of the day, the scoreboard read 79 for two before Shubham put away the first ball of the over for four.
At 11:15AM, the game was done. Madhya Pradesh was 105 all out, and had lost by an innings and 20 runs. In just thirty minutes, MP fell prey to a classical left-arm finger spin masterclass from Rekhade and Harsh Dubey.
Bowling in tandem, the duo ran through all the tricks of the left-arm spin trade with ruthless efficiency to leave batter after batter looking clueless, kneecapping the visitor’s chances of setting a competitive total or even overhaul the first innings deficit.
“Madhya Pradesh is a formidable team, also a champion team, so our plan was to take as many wickets as possible within the 120-run lead we had,” Rekhade said after day’s play.
“Even if we didn’t take all 10 wickets inside 120 runs, we wanted to stop them from making it for as long as possible.”
Left-arm spinners accounted for 22 of the 30 wickets to fall in the match including all 10 in the final innings. The more remarkable fact, however, was that none of the wickets were a product of massive turn.
“The wicket was fine until yesterday, a little slow and low,” Rekhade noted. “Today it started to turn a bit from Harsh’s end, and I was in good rhythm from this end so we ended up getting wickets from both ends.”
He also pointed to bowling speed as a key difference between the two sides’ spinners. “I think our speeds were a little better. They were bowling a little on the slower side, we were working the ball a bit more. We also had some variations in pace and in the field.”
The decision for the two left-arm spinners to bowl in tandem was a concerted decision from the team. Dubey and Rekhade are long-time bowling partners, and Rekhade, the older of the two, noted that they complement each other.
“In the first innings, he started and I came on later, but in the second inning I started and he came on later. So in different situations we play different roles. If he’s going after wickets, then I can contain from the other end, and vice-versa. We have a good rapport,” he explained.
“We’re very vocal with each other. We’ve played enough matches with each other that we know if one of us is giving some feedback to the other, it will be for their betterment.”
Vidarbha was also without its captain Akshay Wadkar, who suffered what appeared to be a serious injury on the second evening attempting a single to reach his century. Rekhade said that coach Usman Ghani had called his side to channel the grit of Wadkar’s ton in its push for victory.
“The point he made is that even though we are 10 people, our captain had gotten injured, we had to take the grit he showed and use it as motivation to win the match. That was our main plan.”
The win caps off an unqualified success of a Ranji Trophy first leg for Vidarbha. Four rounds in, it has won all four matches outright and sits atop Group A, but as its focus now shifts to white-ball cricket, Rekhade was clear about the side’s ambition.
“The main motto, the thinking, of our team is the same. We have to win the match, and win the trophy.”
The two have been an integral part of Vidarbha’s impressive start to this campaign. Harsh leads the Ranji Trophy wicket-taking charts with 28 wickets at 11.64, while Rekhade has been a fine foil in his three appearances, chipping in with 13 wickets at 19.07.
Published on Nov 04, 2026
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